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I've been terrible about blogging and updating people on my life. Frankly, I realize the last thing I want to do is talk about work in my down time. But here it goes since it's new...
So I worked on this project for this company called You Tube. They're owned by this other company called Google. I was hired as a contractor by a production company (same person I did some Levi's work with). I was half event producer, half VIP Talent manager. What does that mean? I dunno, but I worked my ass off, met the founders of You Tube, executives at Google that Ben would literally kill me for their phone numbers, and made sure our celebrities felt well taken care of. Other interesting people I met included Anderson Cooper, SouljaBoy, Esmee Denters, The Will It Blend Guy, The Flute BeatBox guy, the artist Jason Baalman who did a portrait of Angelina Jolie entirely from lipstick, PaintJam artist Dan Dunn who did a roughly 6ft x 6ft portrait of Johnny Cash in about 4minutes while this crazy kid Vince Mira sang (he sounds just like Johnny Cash), singer Lisa Lavie, and other You Tubey popular people.
The event was essentially to bring YouTube to life for a night, and present to about 500 top-tier chief marketing officers, CEO, and execs how they can harness the YouTube community, since apparently they're scared of it or something.
We took a 3 story club on the west side of NYC, installed so much audio and video equipment that it took us a whole week to get it all in. We had a few of the Panasonic 103 in HDTVs, but that was nothing rivaling the giant stage monitor we built. There was roughly 6 stage areas, so basically 6 things going on at once at all times. It as a lot to manage and apparently it has taken 2 weeks recovery for me to even talk about it.
There's coverage out there if you google "Videocracy."This one has pictures: http://blog.nextnewnetworks.com/index.php/2008/02/15/on-videocracy/This one has a video: http://www.tilzy.tv/news/2008/2/YouTube-Google-Videocracy-Party.htmThis one has words: http://valleyvirgin.blogspot.com/2008/02/night
In more new news, I'll be heading down to Austin for this little thing called SXSW (South By Southwest) to coordinate Ray-Ban's involvement. So look forward to more crazy work stories to follow, this time with music, film, and interactive media people. ...wait, sounds similar to people I met during Videocracy.

So, I've really enjoyed one of the only blogs I link to from here, DC365. I appreciate it not only because she enjoys a good restaurant, and is funny, but also because the premise of the blog is one that I can get behind - being a tourist in one's own city/area. It was always nice, when we still lived in DC, to read about things that we probably wouldn't have heard about otherwise. So, now being in the Bay Area, we've been consciously trying to get out and be tourists, as we still are kind of tourists, being new to the area and all.
So, I decided to count up how many new Bay Area specific things we've done (and blogged about) since we've been here.
1: Wander the Cal campus (yeah, I work here, so what? It totally counts.)
2: Ride a cable car in San Francisco
3: Eat clam chowder at Fisherman's Wharf
4: Had dinner in Chinatown
5: Taken pictures from the top of Coit Tower
6: Berkeley Kite Festival
7: Berkeley Rose Garden
8: Hot air ballooning over wine country
9: Napa (Thank you, captain obvious)
10: SF Renassiance Festival in Golden Gate Park
11: Oakland Chinatown Streetfest
12: Go to a Cal Football game
13: SF city/stairway walks
14: Visit Lombard Street!
15: See parrots of Telegraph Hill
16: Visit Transamerica Building (with Rosa no less!)
17: Stomp wine grapes in Napa
18: Taylor's Automatic Refresher (Napa, CA)
19: Visit Phyllo Farnsworth Plaque (I make glass tubes)
20: Cafe du Nord for concerts
21: Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge
22: Go to Stinson Beach for the day
23: Find Jack Early Park
24: Have Beard Papa cream puffs
25: Osha Thai, SF
26: Enjoy Gourmet East Bay Restaurant Week
27: Have dinner at the Claremont!
28: Go to a drag show on campus
29: Visit Sonoma, CA. Buy more wine. Huzzah!
30: Day trip to Santa Cruz, CA
31: Go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
32: Visit Carmel, CA and find a $12 million house for sale
33: Enjoy Dine About Town in SF
34: Berkeley Winery Open House
35: Nopa
36: The Independent
37: Scharfenberger Factory Tour
These last four things we have yet to blog about, but this list leaves me feeling pretty accomplished and excited that Dan and I have been getting out so much. Of course, there are things on my mental list that we didn't blog about, so clearly we should do better with that. However, it is worth nothing that DC365 managed to get through 100 things in a year (!!!!) and we've done 35 in about 8 months. Oy. We have our work cut out for us in the next few months!
So, some late night updates are in order...
**Dan is home from NY now - the kitties are glad to have him back during the day. Also, he's kind of become addicted to online poker.
**I for some reason have follow through issues with my goals and have just recently started my books for the month of February. The one Meghan picked out for me was hard for me to get into, it's set in Ancient Greece and was a little hard to follow, but I'm into it now and enjoying it. Plus, it took awhile for Dan to get me motivated to get my ass to the Cal library to check out the book. BUT let me tell you that now that I've been there, I want to move in. I personally love libraries and wandering around in the stacks for long long periods of time. Anyway, I'm resolving to catch up with books for February and March by the end of March.
**Our West Wing obsession has been replaced with the Planet Earth miniseries as of late, which came out awhile ago and I've been wanting to watch. It's really amazing photography and camera work, and it's pretty clear that this project was years and years in the making. We get one disc at a time from Blockbuster (there are 5) and each disc has three one-hour episodes. Please let me forewarn you that if you ever choose to watch it (and it's well worth it!) if you're a bleeding heart like myself, you will not enjoy the episode called "Ice Worlds" in which there are sad stories about animals not finding enough food and dying. YEAH. Not cheerful nightime material. It was akin to "March of the Penguins" which is one of the only movies I haven't been able to watch all the way through because it was so horrifically sad.
**My cousin danced in THON this weekend at Penn State. If you've never heard of it, please visit here: http://www.thon.org/ It's the largest student-run philanthropic event in the world. It's a dance marathon that lasts for 48 (yes, you read that right) hours straight of dancing - no stopping, no sitting. It's intense. The money raised goes to help find a cure for pediatric cancer. It's such a large event in the campus community that more people want to dance than they have room for, so students compete to participate. The overall event this year raised $6,615,318.04. So, my cousin was picked and she did it! Strong. Clearly, my weekend was not nearly as inspiring. Or active. Or impressive. Or selfless. Or...yeah, you get the idea.
**Did I mention on here that I joined a book club? I joined a book club with other women in the East Bay in their twenties. The first meeting is tomorrow, I'll fill you in after. Hopefully, it'll be as cool as Blue Benson's book club, which I always want to join.
**Dan had his first motorcycle ride today. Yes, he still is in one piece. I'll bug him to blog about it soon :)

Well, four days is just the wrong amount of time for a cross country visit. After three days, you've just begun to be one with the time change. And then on the fourth day, you're back on a plane losing hours as you fly. My body has been pretty pissed at me this week for putting it through all that craziness.
But of course, it was well worth it. There aren't really words to express why it seems to be a common understanding that all of us in the CC find it important to be home together when those among us are going through tough times. Usually we come back not knowing what to say, or what to do, or how we can help at all. But I know that if anything can be done, we would make it happen. And I've come to realize that usually we help by not doing anything at all. We simply hang out, treating each other as we normally would - being inappropriate in public, hugging in the middle and all that sort of thing. It seems that when most everything we know in life is being yanked out from under one of us, to be reassured that this group of people is still there, showing us what is good and normal, what is solid and stable and always there, no matter what, is the best thing we can give one another. Not only for maybe the person who is dealing with an extremely difficult time, but for the rest of us too, reassuring us that when tough times come, as we all know they will, that we will have something and someone (many someones) to lean on.
I have, as I think many other people have, had to explain to people what my group of friends is like. And I'm not ashamed to say that I usually end up emphasizing how our group is SO special and SO amazing. We've stayed so close since high school, we're all over the country and we see each other as much as possible. We've made friends as we've all taken our seperate journeys, but this group at home is what we come back to. It's no less than a family. A family that we chose.
I wonder if other people's families comment on how lucky they think we are. My parents always mention how they think I'm lucky to have the group of friends that I do. They comment on our support, and our bond. They ask about all of my friends, and I ask my friends about their families.
I just...It is times like this weekend (when the rallying has commenced) that I feel extraordinarily lucky.

Candy in red and pink wrappers? Overpriced flowers? It must be Valentines Day! Can you sense my excitement?
I am excited to see some folks in DC this weekend, although the reason for coming home is not as exciting. But, this is what friends do. *Prepares, as part of College Crew bylaws, to rally* (If confused, please see Laura Benson's myspace blog post)
That is all.

I was sitting around here tonight enjoying my fantastically quiet evening and realizing that this time last February I was still in grad school. In fact, this time last year I was probably sitting at home hanging out doing nothing (unless Dana dragged me out on the town) and watching TV. Isn't it crazy what happens in a year?

So, here's a year in my life in photos.

Dan, Dana and Larry at the hookah bar in Athens on Valentine's weekend. We're quite the romantics :)

In March, on a visiting trip to SF, Shalina and I are acting like goofballs on the Golden Gate Bridge.

4.16.07

At Dan's graduation from GWU in May. So proud :)

Dana, Laura and I at our graduation in June. Can you believe I have a Master's degree? Clearly, neither can we.

Larry serenading Dana to "I've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (yes, like in Top Gun) at their wedding on 7.7.07

Hot air ballooning for our four year anniversary in August.

Some of the football spirit at Cal in September (the building in the background is a residence hall)

Ro, Dan and I at the end of our city walk during Ro's visit in October.

*We finished Season 7 of the West Wing last night. We're both kind of sad actually. I know, it's not like we can't just watch the whole series again (since we now own the complete series) but it'll be awhile before that happens I think. You know who I still don't like? Amy.
*Our cats have started sleeping curled up together on the couch at night instead of sleeping with us. I can't decide if I'm happy or sad about it.
*Dan is leaving tomorrow to go to New York for a week to put on this big important event he's been working on. I will have an enormous bed all to myself for a week! Also, I'll miss him and stuff.
*Ro - I fully intend on actually taking 12 pictures of my life on the 12th. It will not be nearly as exciting as yours. But, I will try it out anyway.
***jk, as Dan will have the camera in NYC. His 12th will be more exciting than mine though.
*It's 60 degrees here today, and will be all week. *sticks tongue out in a very immature fashion*
*Haven't posted pictures in awhile. Some to come soon.

*We're working through West Wing season 7 and I honestly forget sometimes when I turn off the show that the characters aren't real candidates. When I remember and figure it out, I get sad. No seriously, I would vote for Martin Sheen every election for the rest of my life if I could.
*So, we've been enjoying restaurants in San Francisco and around the rest of the Bay Area since we've been here. And, you know, some wine. Since some people (i.e. Rosa) want to here what we have to say about them, we're going to potentially start another blog linked to this one about restuarant reviews, maybe wineries we've enjoyed. However, while you are, as our friends, required to read this blog, the other blog will be optional reading, as I can't imagine WHY you would care about restaurants in San Francisco.
*Dan is still kind of sort of sick. He hadn't been coughing at all today, and then we went and had frozen yogurt for dessert. Remember how when you have lots of phlegm and mucus and junk your mom told you that you shouldn't have dairy? Yeah, I forgot.
*Our car gets turned in this Friday. Sad about it. Anyone have a scooter I can buy from them?
*Can anyone else believe that it's already February? Also, it's a leap year. I think I should look into why leap years exist. I think I have a general idea, but yeah. Note to self.
*Last weekend, we went to a Wii playing party at one of the other RD's apartment and she also has Guitar Hero. So, everyone is struggling with the game, trying over and over to get through one song. So, Dan picks it up and of course, sails through one song one the first try. Yeah, this is why we never get invited to do anything fun. I kicked serious ass in bowling though. Franklin would be proud.
*I can not stop watching the West Wing. It's right at the part when Josh and Donna start getting togther and I'm completely addicted.

Yes, it is 2:37 AM PST as I'm writing here. My sleep cycle is ridiculously thrown off...and I'm not sure why. I have been working everyday (albeit a little later and later every day for the past week) and on the weekends, we've been up and out of the apartment early for day trips. It's frustrating knowing that, currently, I will only get about 6 hours of sleep tonight, if I get to bed soon and knowing that my mom, on the East Coast, is totally already up and going on her Friday (unless she has the day off...) Not a good feeling.
In the past, I would totally just suck it up and get up early tomorrow, not take a nap, and then go to bed around 10-11 PM and try to get back to normal...except that's what I've been doing all week and nothing is working.
*GOSH* Yeah, my life's real hard when these are the complaints. Well, I do have one other complaint in that Dan is still sick and making gross noises because he's congested, but really, do you all need to suffer through that with me? Probably not.
So, I just want to announce that along with having a California driver's license, I voted absentee for the California primary last week. It's like I live here or something! And while I have some gripes about being a resident (top on the list is our governor. I mean, are you serious. And, you know, being far away from most of the people I love), there are some positives (many of which have to do with the food/wine available near here, and the ridiculous amounts of things to do) BUT the state of California allows you an option of permanent absentee voting! That's right, I checked one box on my driver's license application, and I registered to vote and signed up to get mailed a ballot for every primary and general election. Amazing. I had a slight fit of excitement about it in the DMV. As I've voted in person once in my life and it was a horrendous experience AND in VA, you have to register for an absentee ballot for every seperate election. So, score one for CA.
In case you were keeping track, VA/DC does have a huge lead, with the friends/family/home factor going for it, but Cali is racking up some points lately.
Had last birthday dinner out tonight. Was delicious.